(a)(1) The Board of Regents for Higher Education shall establish a permanent Endowment Fund for Charter Oak State College to encourage donations from the private sector, with an incentive in the form of an endowment fund state grant, the net earnings on the principal of which are dedicated and made available to Charter Oak State College for scholarships and programmatic enhancements. The fund shall be administered by the Board of Regents for Higher Education or by a nonprofit entity entrusted for such purpose and qualified as a Section 501(c)(3) organization under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or any subsequent corresponding internal revenue code of the United States, as from time to time amended, and preferably constituted and controlled independent of the state and college so as to qualify the interest on state bonds the proceeds of which have been granted for deposit in the endowment fund as excludable from federal taxation under such code and shall, in any event, be held in a trust fund separate and apart from all other funds and accounts of the state and the Board of Regents for Higher Education. There shall be deposited into the fund: (A) Endowment fund eligible gifts; (B) endowment fund state grants; and (C) interest or other earnings from the investment of moneys in the endowment fund pending transfer or use of earnings on the principal of the fund for the purposes identified in this subdivision.

(2) (A) For each of the fiscal years ending June 30, 2000, to June 30, 2006, inclusive, as part of the state contract with donors of endowment fund eligible gifts, the Office of Higher Education, in accordance with section 10a-8b, shall deposit in the Endowment Fund for Charter Oak State College a grant in an amount equal to half of the total amount of endowment fund eligible gifts received by or for the benefit of Charter Oak State College for the calendar year ending the December thirty-first preceding the commencement of such fiscal year, as certified by the chairperson of the Board of Regents for Higher Education by February fifteenth to (i) the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, (ii) the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to appropriations and the budgets of state agencies, and (iii) the executive director of the Office of Higher Education, provided such sums do not exceed the endowment fund state grant maximum commitment for the fiscal year in which the grant is made.

(B) For each of the fiscal years ending June 30, 2007, to June 30, 2014, inclusive, as part of the state contract with donors of endowment fund eligible gifts, the Office of Higher Education, in accordance with section 10a-8b, shall deposit in the Endowment Fund for Charter Oak State College a grant in an amount equal to one-quarter of the total amount of endowment fund eligible gifts, except as provided in this subdivision, received by or for the benefit of Charter Oak State College for the calendar year ending the December thirty-first preceding the commencement of such fiscal year, as certified by the chairperson of the Board of Regents for Higher Education by February fifteenth to (i) the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, (ii) the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to appropriations and the budgets of state agencies, and (iii) the executive director of the Office of Higher Education, provided such sums do not exceed the endowment fund state grant maximum commitment for the fiscal year in which the grant is made. Endowment fund eligible gifts that meet the criteria set forth in this subdivision, made by donors during the period from January 1, 2005, to June 30, 2005, shall continue to be matched by the Office of Higher Education in an amount equal to one-half of the total amount of endowment fund eligible gifts received. Commitments by donors to make endowment fund eligible gifts for two or more years that meet the criteria set forth in this subdivision and that are made for the period prior to December 31, 2004, but ending before December 31, 2012, shall continue to be matched by the Office of Higher Education in an amount equal to one-half of the total amount of endowment fund eligible gifts received through the commitment.

(C) In any such fiscal year in which the total of the eligible gifts received by Charter Oak State College exceeds the endowment fund state grant maximum commitment for such fiscal year the amount in excess of such endowment fund state grant maximum commitment shall be carried forward and be eligible for a matching state grant in any succeeding fiscal year from the fiscal year ending June 30, 2000, to the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014, inclusive, subject to the endowment fund state grant maximum commitment. Any endowment fund eligible gifts that are not included in the total amount of endowment fund eligible gifts certified by the chairperson of the Board of Regents for Higher Education pursuant to this subdivision may be carried forward and be eligible for a matching state grant in any succeeding fiscal year from the fiscal year ending June 30, 2000, to the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014, inclusive, subject to the endowment fund state matching grant maximum commitment for such fiscal year.

(3) The Board of Regents for Higher Education shall adopt, by October 1, 1997, guidelines with respect to (A) the solicitation of endowment fund eligible gifts from private donors, and (B) governing the acceptance of gifts made by a foundation established pursuant to sections 4-37e and 4-37f, to Charter Oak State College or its employees for reimbursement of expenditures or payment of expenditures on behalf of Charter Oak State College or its employees. Private donations shall not be construed to include proceeds of municipal grants.

(b) For the purposes of this section: (1) “Endowment fund eligible gift” means a gift to or for the benefit of Charter Oak State College of cash or assets which may be reduced to cash or which has a value that is ascertainable by such college which the donor has specifically designated for deposit in the endowment fund or which explicitly or implicitly by the terms of the gift Charter Oak State College may and does deposit or permit to be deposited in the endowment fund. (2) “Endowment fund state grant” means moneys that are transferred by the Office of Higher Education from the fund established pursuant to section 10a-8b to the endowment fund established pursuant to this section in an aggregate amount not exceeding the endowment fund state grant maximum commitment. (3) “Endowment fund state grant maximum commitment” means an amount not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars for each fiscal year from the fiscal year ending June 30, 2000, to the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014, inclusive.

(c) Notwithstanding the endowment fund state grant maximum commitment level provided for each fiscal year pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, the total of the endowment fund state grant maximum commitments for the fiscal years ending June 30, 2000, to June 30, 2014, inclusive, shall not exceed nine hundred thousand dollars.

(P.A. 97-293, S. 2, 26; P.A. 98-252, S. 30, 49, 80; P.A. 01-141, S. 13, 16; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 05-3, S. 66; P.A. 06-135, S. 10; P.A. 12-156, S. 49; P.A. 14-117, S. 11.)

History: P.A. 97-293 effective July 1, 1997; P.A. 98-252 amended Subsec. (a)(1) to add provision for the fund to be administered by a nonprofit entity and to make technical changes and amended Subsec. (a)(2) to allow gifts not included in the amount certified by the chairperson to be carried forward and be eligible for a matching state grant in a succeeding fiscal year, effective July 1, 1998; P.A. 01-141 extended the program to the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014, in Subsec. (a)(2), applied the limit in Subsec. (b)(3) to the extension and added Subsec. (c) re $900,000 cap, effective July 1, 2001 (Revisor's note: In Subsec. (b)(1), “endowment funds” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “endowment fund” for consistency); June Sp. Sess. P.A. 05-3 amended Subsec. (a)(2) by designating existing language re match in an amount equal to half as new Subpara. (A) and amended same to provide for match terminating with the fiscal year ending June 30, 2006, and by redesignating Subparas. (A) to (C) as clauses (i) to (iii), by adding new Subpara. (B) re match in an amount equal to one quarter and by designating existing language re eligible gifts in excess of state grant maximum commitment as new Subpara. (C), effective July 1, 2005; P.A. 06-135 amended Subsec. (a)(2)(B) by adding provisions re endowment fund eligible gifts made during the period from January 1, 2005, to June 30, 2005, effective July 1, 2006; P.A. 12-156 replaced “Department of Higher Education” with “Office of Higher Education” and replaced “Commissioner of Higher Education” with “executive director of the Office of Higher Education”, effective June 15, 2012; P.A. 14-117 amended Subsec. (a) by replacing references to Board for State Academic Awards with references to Board of Regents for Higher Education, effective July 1, 2014.

See Sec. 10a-8c re restrictions on appropriations.